11/16/09 Tannest Person in Sweden:

I boarded the plane in Quebec City, Canada and prepared for a long haul part way around the world. My trip would take me from Quebec to Montreal to Frankfurt, Germany then on to Sweden. A day and a half later I arrived in Osterdund without a single hiccup during travel and had all my bags. With the amount of traveling I've done, you just learn to expect missing bags, delayed or canceled flights, or really bad seats. When everything works out and travel goes smoothly, it's a real treat. I saw the sun for what might be a long while as my plane ducked down through two layers of clouds to get to Scandinavia. It is warm and wet here, but they have a great 4km loop of skiing that will work out perfectly until more snow arrives. It is just a strip of snow (see pictures below) that is set out in the woods and through the range, but at least they have skiing! The Swedes always do a great job at this venue and are hard workers. I'm sure it took a lot of work to get that snow spread out over 4km. I do have to say that I'm the tannest person in Sweden. Normally the Swedes come right up to me and talk to me in Swedish thinking I'm from there. With my blond hair and usually pasty skin form training in dark places I fit in pretty well. But they've pinned me for a foreigner right away because I have a little more color from my trip down to Florida recently. Anyway, training is going well and I'm excited to start racing soon. Check back later for more updates on training and the first World Cup of the season coming up on the 2nd of December.

Tracy and I have just started our training camp out in Utah. Almost the entire population of U.S. biathletes from youth, to juniors, to seniors, will be out here for three weeks training at the 2002 Olympic Venue in Heber City, Utah (15min south of Park City). We have already seen snow as we drove through a white out on our way out to Heber from our home in Durango. After that the snow continued for the next two days and only really accumulated up in the higher elevations. It was still nice to see snow as it get us even more motivated for the upcoming season. The first week of the camp is just finishing and we had a tough, but successful week. Next week we continue with some tough training, but have some exciting races at the end with and Individual on Saturday (17th) and a Sprint (19th). Tracy and I are both excited to see how our times compare and hopefully progressed from our times from these same races that we did periodically throughout the summer. Racing on the same venue throughout the year helps you to gauge your progress, ski speed and shape thoughout the year. We'll keep you posted on how the races go.

Lanny does photo shoot for Hot Head Hats & LipFusion to help benifit the non-profit Children With Wings-

    A few weeks pack Lanny volunteered to do a photo shoot for Hot Head Hats that would benifit Children with Wings. The photos and a written article can be seen in Allure magazine next month. Please check it out! Here are a few of the photo's from the shoot below-

Good Results for US Women at German Champs

Written By- Viktoria Franke - US Biathlon September 20, 2009

Photo: Viktoria Franke

Lanny Barnes in Altenberg

After spending two weeks of training in Italy, BethAnn Chamberlain, Lanny Barnes and Tracy Barnes arrived in Altenberg at the beginning of the week. “That stop just fit well in our plan and thanks to the competitions it’s not only a opportunity for us to see where we stand but also a chance to get to know the track better!” explains Tracy Barnes. In January, the US Olympic Trials will take part in Altenberg so it’s probably not the worst idea to spend some more training time at the training spot at the Czech boarder.

Strong Competition in Altenberg

Given the fact, that two amazingly hard weeks of altitude and snow training laid behind the women the three showed an incredible performance during the two races that took part this weekend. Being part of the German Championship the Sprint and Pursuit competitions hosted some of the world’s best biathletes such as Kati Wilhelm, Simone Hauswald or Magdalena Neuner.

“For us it was an incredible experience”, stated BethAnn Chamberlain after the races. “I am not completely satisfied with places 29 and 26 but I learned so much during those two days. And of course you can’t expect too much on the track at the end of our long training tour!”

The Barnes twins showed some good results in comparison with their German World Cup competitors. In the Sprint Tracy finished 13 and moved up on spot in the pursuit. Lanny did an even bigger step by advancing from 21^st place in the Sprint to 13^th in the Pursuit. “I was so shocked that Lanny suddenly was behind me! I couldn’t even believe it!”, laughed Tracy after the race. With only two penalties Lanny Barnes showed one of the best shooting results of the day. In the sprint on the other hand, Tracy was one of the three women that stayed clean at the range. “I really like it when there’s distraction while I am on the range. In Altenberg the spectators kept on cheering so it was never too silent when I was shooting.”

Perfect Way to End the European Trip

Though they showed some good results the girls were quite happy after they finished today’s competition. “We are all pretty tired. It’s been a long trip and I guess we never did that much skating within three weeks. And now the competition on that really hard track was just the perfect way to end the European tour”, stated Lanny Barnes while packing things for their leave back home.

The whole trip was an idea of the three training colleagues and friends. “We paid for it ourselves and planned it ourselves as well”, explains Chamberlain.

At tomorrow’s article you’ll learn more about what the three of them experienced during their trip through Italy and Germany. If you want to know why Italian kids can be intimidating, how a hike in the fog can scare even the toughest biathletes and how hard it is to make your way by just speaking English:  

Stay tuned!

Lot of New European Experiences For the Women

Viktoria Franke - US Biathlon September 22, 2009

In the Mountains

The European trip of BethAnn Chamberlain, Lanny and Tracy Barnes brought them from Munich to Bormio, Italy up to Altenberg, Germany. Some of their experiences are worth mentioning even if most of them took part not even close to the shooting range.

Getting Used to Italian Language, Food and People

When they think about their Italien experiences, all three of them have to laugh quite often. “I was literally standing there with a ‘Italian for Dummies’ book and trying to talk to them”, explains BethAnn. Lanny actually put this experience down on paper when she drew a cartoon about their three-week-trip. On it there’s also BethAnn’s husband Danny who is being watched by a small Italian kid while doing his workouts. “Actually it wasn’t just watching. The kid was basically staring at him and not saying a word!”, Tracy laughs.

Even if the kid would have said something, the girls are pretty sure that they would not have understood a word. None of the Italians spoke English, only the owner of the private house they were staying in was able to talk to them. “We actually had some great talks with him”, Lanny says. “He was a lot of fun but basically all the others – even the waiters – had real trouble when we tried to talk to them. Even with the ‘Italian for Dummies’ they weren’t able to have big conversations. That’s also how they ended up eating way too much every day. “We tried to tell the waiter that we had enough to eat already. But he was so offended by that, that we ended up eating even the dessert. It was huge … every single night!”

Lost in the mountains

Another thing they are trying to forget is that one hike in the mountains. “We saw that little house in the mountains from our windows and we thought we would just hike there one day”, starts BethAnn. Lanny remembers that day: “We couldn’t train because it was that foggy. So we figured we just go there. We thought we saw the path from our window and that it was easy. But after five hours of hiking we actually weren’t even close to the house!” Her sister just laughs and ends the story: “In the end we found our way back but somehow we were really glad that there was so much fog. We seriously didn’t want to see how deep down it went next to the path!”

 

Leaving the big mountains behind them and driving to Altenberg, they ended up in a middle-sized German village. “We arrived there and really just wanted to get some pizza because we figured that the normal stores were already closed.”, Tracy remembers After driving around for quite some time they figured: There won’t be any pizza at that night. “After all we ended up eating just some bad pasta and went to bed really unhappy”, they laugh.

 

Nevertheless. After all they ended up having a great time over in Europe. "But to go back home is always one of the nicest things about a trip like that". That's what all three of them are certain of.

 

Trip Day 1 & 2: Travel Days

Christie made us cookies for our trip! And lots of them. We could barely make it out the front door of her condo building without people asking where the party was and how they could get cookies too. We arrived at the airport at around noon and didn’t have any problems checking in. They didn’t even charge us for overweight bags which was a good thing as our ski bag was probably pushing 70 lbs. We boarded the plane in Burlington en-route to Washington D.C. and ended up spending an extra hour in the air circling before we landed in Syracuse, NY to re-fuel. There ended up being severe weather in D.C. They shut the airport down until it passed. So we waited on the plane as time ticked by and our 5:30pm flight to Munich came and went. We knew there was and 8:00pm flight, so as long as we got out soon we’d make it. Finally they cleared us to take off and we landed in D.C. to find a traffic jam of planes. Every plane it seemed was sitting somewhere on a runway or the tarmac waiting to take off. It was a mess. We then sprinted down to the Luftansa counter to see if we could get on the flight and the let us on, but the people behind us weren’t allowed on, so we really lucked out. As we got to our seats a flight attendant came down the aisle and proceeded to ask every male around us if they were sitting in seat 37C. That was my seat, so I showed her my ticket and she gave me a funny look and very skeptically asked if I had checked a “weapon” onto the flight. I said yes and so our rifles was cleared for the flight and that was that, we were on our way.

8 hours later…

We arrived in Munich and find BethAnn and Dave (teammates and our partners for the trip). We get the rental car and proceed to stuff 2 ski bags, 2 rifle cases, 4 duffels and a number of back packs and computer bags and 4 people into a car the size of a Subaru outback. We all had seat belts and the skis were secured on tight on the top so we were good to go. We next made our way down to the German town of Schlecking where our ski grinder, Muck, lives. There was lots of “stau”, German for traffic jams, on the way. We arrived in Schleching to find it time for siesta, meaning all the shops and restaurants were closed for several hours during the middle of the day so people can go home and take a nap, as Muck was doing. We were at his place to pick up some skis, ammo, and wax equipment.  Once that was loaded we got some very disapproving looks as to how we were traveling. Muck asked us over and over to check the skis in Innsbruck to make sure that they were still tight on top of the car and he laughed at us being so crammed into the car. 

3 hours later…

We made our way out of Germany through Austria, past Innsbruck, and into Italy. We always joke that Germany and Austria can be cloudy, but once you get into Italy it’s sunny and nice. Well today it was raining in Germany and cloudy in Austria and of course sunny in Italy. I think it comes with the culture. The Italians are so cheerful and laid back and it was apparent on our drive to Stelvio pass. We kept encountering road signs that would tell you how many kilometers it was to the pass, first it was 38 then 42, then 35, then 37. And we were supposedly getting closer. But with the Italians who cares how far it is, it’s about 37 kilometers, or so, you’ll get there, you’ll make it, in the mean time sip some cappuccino and enjoy life. It is that way with time as well. An Italian will tell you they’ll be there in 5 minutes (everything is 5 minutes by the way) and they could be there in 3 minutes or a half an hour, but that doesn’t matter. It’s only 5 minutes down the road (more like 2 hours) or they’ll open in 5 minutes (or tomorrow).  I love it. It’s such a different way of life and it’s so nonchalant. It’s quite relaxing at times.

So, we are made our way to Stelvio pass where we’ll be skiing on a glacier for 2 weeks. The road to get up to the top of the pass has 48 hair pin switchbacks. And there are signs to mark each one, counting them down from the bottom to the top. This section of road is famous as a stage in the Giro d’Italia bike race. A grueling climb… something we are extremely excited to bike. We’ll bike the pass next week! It’ll take anywhere from 2-3 hours of straight uphill climbing. It’ll be an epic bike for sure. The road itself is a little more than one and a half lanes and there are sections where you can look straight up and see the next corner and then the next one. At one point you come out of the trees and you can see the road up ahead snaking its way back and forth up to the top. The top of the pass is around 8,500 feet. Our hotel, the Thuni 3000, is at 3000 meters or just about 9,000 feet. The glacier where we’ll be skiing is close to 10,000 feet!

When we made it to the top of the pass we reached a village. A cluster of 3-4 hotels and a couple of shops and bars… not much at all. We started to look around for our hotel and couldn’t find it. We asked some of the locals and no one seemed to speak any English and our Italian is very poor if not completely non-existent. We finally managed to find out that our hotel was up the mountain further on a very steep, very windy 4WD road. The way to get there; take the gondola (which was closed) or call the hotel and they’ll come pick you up. So we opted for the later and 10 minutes later we were greeted by a banged up range rover hauling a small trailer. We then piled all of our duffels and ski bags into the trailer and hopped in the car. By now the sun had set and we’d be guided by the cars headlights. We left the paved parking lot and started up a narrow dirt road, but not before the driver put the car in 4WD. We then proceeded up the extremely steep bump road trying to hold on best we could while our bags jumped all over the trailer in the back. We were all very excited to finally make it to our destination. We had a late dinner and discussed how we each thought we wouldn’t be able to sleep that night because we were all so giddy. Stelvio pass is one of the most unbelievable places I have ever been. It is so breathtakingly beautiful and not just because the air is so thin at 9,000 feet.

Day 3: WWI Bunkers, Mountain Goats and some bad Italian

             Today we awoke to perfectly clear blue skies. You can see for miles and there are mountains in every direction. We talked with the groomers and got everything all set for skiing the next couple of days. We are the only ones here for a few days cross country skiing, so we’ll have the track to ourselves. There are hundreds of downhill ski racers, though. Italy, Austria and a few other countries are having training camps for downhill ski training up on the glacier.

            For training today we decided to go on a hike/run. From our hotel you can see trails in every direction. We are well above tree line so you can see where all the trails zig-zag all of the peaks surrounding us. It is an adventurers dream. We found a trail that we could see winding it’s way up to the peak and set out on it. We made it to the peak to find a very large cross on top. Most peaks in Italy have crosses on top of them. Then we cut down the back side of the peak to another peak, we proceeded to go from ridge-line to ridge line and peak to peak. Along the way we would run into old World War One bunkers made out of rock. They were amazing. They blended in so well and were built really well too. They were all along the tops of the peaks and the ridges and some bunkers that run the length of them too. We found out later that there are even tunnels that were built from the valley floor into the mountain and all the way up to the top. Pretty amazing how they built everything. We also ran into some local wildlife. We don’t often see any wildlife in Europe, so when we do it’s a real treat. We saw mountain sheep that were different from anything that we have in the states. Their body and face looked similar to that of a Big Horn Sheep, but their horns looked like that of a gazelle. The horns were really thick and quite big. It was really impressive to see them scale the sides of the mountains.

            After our hike we went to lunch and had an amazing meal of pasta and meat. The pasta is always cooked to perfection. During the meal BethAnn decided to try out some Italian on the waiters who speak very little English. She has been carrying around a phrase book and has bravely tried a few things out here and there. She tried to say “The food is really good” but whatever she was saying they didn’t like so well, so they told us a more correct phrase and we all got a good laugh at the attempted Italian.

            In the afternoon we ran down to the little village and checked out the venders who were selling all types of nick-nacks. The worst of them was a “whistle pig” or rock chuck stuffed animal that would whistle when you went by it. After a while the whistling got really annoying. We also made our way to a small museum which outlined the history of the region during the war and it’s famous stage of the Tour d’Italia.

Day 4: Palma-lifts, Glacier Skiing & Rally Car Roller-loops

            Today was our first day skiing on the glacier. We take the gondola up from our hotel to the base of the glacier. Then we take a palma-lift up midway up the downhill runs and then traverse the glacier to the back side where the Nordic trails are. Before the start of the day I knew this was going to be an adventure because just getting to the trails was going to be fun. I’d never been on a palma-lift before or what we like to call it- the “pummel lift”. For those Coloradans like myself who aren’t familiar with one it is a bar with a disk at the bottom with a retractable cord. The lift attendant grabs it and pulls it down and you place the disk between your legs and sit on it and it pulls you up the hill. When you get to the top you let go and it retracts back up to the overhead cable. It’s similar to a T-bar which I’d seen before, but nothing like a cushy chair lift I’m used to. We get up to the lift and put our skis on and I’m watching all these little kids grab the bar and then head off up the hill. Dave goes, then a small kid, then Lanny is up next in line. Lanny kept having to wait because the kid kept falling.  It began to make me nervous. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so easy after all. So Lanny was then handed her bar and was off. I’m hoping the lift attendant waits a bar in between Lanny and I so I can get my bearings, but he grabs it shoves it between my legs and says “huppa” with a smile. I’m then jerked forward and am speeding downhill… downhill? I thought the lift was supposed to go uphill. My skis are gaining some speed and I look up in time to see Lanny splayed out on the ground. The lift attendant is yelling at her to let go of the bar and come back to get another one, but she’s determined to hang on. She quickly gathers her things and stands up before she gets dragged. Then it’s my turn to go on my butt. I had gained so much speed that the cable is far behind me and when it reaches the end of the line it pulls me abruptly backwards. I definitely wasn’t ready for that. So, after a quick recovery I’m up on my feet again and moving forward. This time I’m vowing to not get ahead of my cable. I spent the rest of the ride up the hill laughing at myself, what a blast. Too bad no one got a picture of Lanny and I on the ground. We then got up to the point where we cut across to the cross country trails. There were a few downhill runs between us and the trails and we had to cross them. There were racing gates set up on some of the runs with downhill skiers flying through them at blazing speeds. We mistakenly made it to a section where we can’t see the top of the downhill run to see the skiers start and they can’t see us. We are just over a rise. What a stupid mistake that was. So, we wait and wait to go right after a skier, but they don’t come, so we decide to just go for it. I go first with BethAnn right behind me. She’s just a few feet behind me but a downhill skier goes between us. What a close call that was. We finally make it over to the cross country trails, thankful that our adventure is over and start our ski. The trails are awesome. They wind back and forth across the glacier and there is 5 kilometers in all. We finished our ski and decided to go look at the view on the other side of the mountain. We are right near the top and there is a short trail and bench. We walk up to the top and are greeted with a very humbling view. There is no other side of this mountain, it drops straight down. When you see something like that it makes you feel very small in the world. We then gathered our things and skied down the downhill run getting in a lot of downhill turns, it was a blast.

            In the afternoon we drove down to the town of Bormio. The drive to Bormio is on the other side of the pass we arrived on the previous day, but it is no less windy. There are a total 38 switch backs on this side of the pass and numerous tunnels that are very dark and only wide enough for one car. We were driving through one of them with about 4 ski club vans behind us and came head to head with a car going the other directions. It turned into a stand off. The vans behind us started to honk and wave for the car to back up, but the car seemed unwilling. They did manage to move over to the side of the tunnel as far as they could while scraping the paint off of their Audi and Dave very carefully maneuvered our rental past with only and inch on either side to spare. We’re not sure how the vans were going to make it past. Quite an interesting road. In Bormio we met up with Nickola, our local contact, who we’ll be staying with next week. His cousin owns the hotel we are staying at on the top of the mountain. He’s a very nice Italian with crushing hand shake. After meeting with him we made our way to the biathlon venue, which consists of 8 biathlon targets and about 10 kilometers of paved rollerskiing that was designed by an Italian Indy car driver. There are a few downhill turns which are quite frightening on rollerskis without brakes. The track is a rollercoaster for sure.

            After the Rollerski we drove up the 38 switch backs to the top of the pass. Since we were later than 5 o’clock, the gondola was closed and we had to hike with our guns and backpacks up to the hotel.

Day 5: Life on the mountain

We awoke to day to another beautiful sunny day. We made our way up to ski and found ourselves once again alone on the tracks. We thought the Norwegian National team would have made it up there today, but maybe tomorrow. We had a great ski and did a bunch of drills to work on balance and technique.

Day 6: Bormio’s 2 Biathlon Ranges

            Today we skied again in the morning and towards the end of our ski the Norwegians showed up. You could tell that it was their first day at altitude because they were skiing really slow around the tracks. Their coaches were also monitoring their lactic acid levels every couple of loops to make sure they weren’t going to hard. After a few hours of skiing we made our way back down which is a highlight of our ski everyday because the snow is softer and we can do downhill turns the entire way down the downhill runs, it’s temping not to rent a pair of downhill skis and give it a whirl, but we get in one good run on our Nordic skis each day. In the afternoon we were to meet Nickola, our local contact, and the club coach to get situated at the range. So we showed up early to the range and waited and waited and waited some more. When we thought they might not show we just started to shoot. Just about that time they arrived. It turns out that there are two biathlon ranges in Bormio, one that is 30 points and could host a world cup and the other, the one we were at, which is small, only 8 points, and a little ghetto. So, Nickola laughed that we were waiting for him and he was waiting for us and everyone was waiting for everyone. He then drove us over to the big range where DeLorenzi of the Italian National team was training. The local coach then gave us keys to the place and left us to our shooting workout. We had a great shooting workout with some wind and then it was time to head back up the mountain to Stelvio Pass. We once again missed the 5:00 tram back up to our hotel so we slung our pack and rifles on our backs and hiked up the hill to our hotel. Another great day in the mountains.

Day 7: Fog

The wind howled all night long! Being at 10,000 feet makes you highly susceptible to some pretty nasty weather and today demonstrated that. It was too foggy and windy for the tram to operate so the tram was shut down. We had planned a hike in the afternoon so we just moved that up to the morning. We were all very excited about this hike. We had been planning it ever since we had driven up Stelvio Pass the first time. Our destination was a hut way up on the side of this mountain. At first we didn’t even think there was any way to get there, but with careful studying of the mountains while going up and down the tram everyday we thought we’d seen a trail heading over that way. We didn’t want to take a high route because that would involve some serious rock climbing and some sketchy terrain. We figured a route down across the bottom of the glacial chute or rock slide, down into the trees (we are way above tree line up here) and back up to the hut. We couldn’t see our entire route and had no idea how long it would take, but it would be an adventure. We also debated on whether or not to drive down part of the pass to cut across to our destination or whether to hike down from the hotel which would leave us a long section on exposed rock. Our adventurous spirits won over and we all decided to hike from the hotel. It was raining off and on and really windy, so we packed a back pack with extra clothes, food, and some rope incase we had to rope up on some steep sections in the fog. We bundled up and headed out across the exposed mountain. At this point we were kind of in between the clouds. There was clouds above us and down towards the valley but not where we were currently, but we were quickly approaching the fog. From the start of the day we couldn’t see the hut we were set out to find and we knew that it would be difficult in the ever increasing fog to find out where exactly it was. We found a trail that looked like it was heading in the right direction. This trail was amazing. It took us over all types of different terrain, across creeks, through trees, exposed rock, avalanche chutes, narrow ridges, past high mountain free range cows (all of which wear large bells around their necks) and mountain goats. We hiked and we ran, and we scrambled, and we kept our feet moving for a very long time ever wondering where the hut was and thinking it might just be up around the next corner and then the next and maybe the next. I don’t think we ever got a true appreciation for this trail because the fog was so thick. I think we would have found that we were skirting the edge of a mountain, thousands of feet up above the valley. We could tell that we were up high and that there was a sheer drop to the side of us, but how high we couldn’t tell. The occasional falling rock from the trail would roll down and down, and down further disappearing into the fog.  It was so beautiful, the fog made it quite a unique experience. We eventually turned around without finding the hut. We had no idea if we’d gone to far or not far enough, or were we on the right trail. We are all very excited for the next clear day to see where we had gone and if we had passed the hut or not gone far enough. But what a hike! We ran back along the trail retracing our steps through the creeks, the trees, and past the cows. Then we had about a 2 hour uphill hike. The last section would be exposed to the wind and we were soaked to the bone, so before we got up there we made a change into warm clothes and then hiked up, and up and up until our hotel emerged out of the fog like a scene out of a movie. We were all cold, tired and exhausted after our 5 hour attempt to find the hut, still wondering where we had gone….

Pursuit Race

1 BARNES-COLIANDER, Tracy USBA 2 1 1 1 5 0:33:13.4

We recently kicked off the training season with our first official training camp of the year held in Lake Placid, New York and Fort Kent, Maine. The camp is three weeks long with a high amount of training in each week. Each week consists of 20 plus hours. The goal is to boost the level of fitness. Usually by the end of a 3 “high” week block you are extremely exhausted and need a good recovery week to follow. Our first week in Lake Placid consisted of intervals on the treadmill doing a Vancouver protocol that had us skiing techniques that you would find on the trails at the Olympic venue. We also did several head to head uphill intervals where we all start together in a mass start and ski all out- uphill for 4 minutes and repeat that 8 times. We finished off the week with a 3 times 20 minutes of uphill biking intervals.

On Sunday we all drove 7 hours north through Canada to get to the tip of Maine to the town of Fort Kent. We arrived in Fort Kent to hear bad news of one of our fellow junior athlete had been struck and killed by a car while rollerskiing. The driver was a recent high school graduate who had just taken his eyes off the road to grab a cell phone and didn’t see Willie Neal (age 19). Please pray for his family! 

In Fort Kent we’d be spending the next two weeks mainly focusing on rollerski intensity with shooting. Our first intensity session consisted of “max” intervals or an all out effort in a pursuit format. So we would start with someone in front of you to chase and someone behind you to chase you. These intervals were really tough and really fun. They become really competitive as you try really hard to catch the girl in front of you and try your hardest not to be caught by the girl behind you.

The middle of the week found us doing a 3 hour distance bike workout in Canada. Fort Kent is right on the border, so we all grabbed our passports and rode across the border for a workout. The next day we competed in a timed trial- a mock race. Our first one of the year. This one had 4 shooting stages and 5 loops of skiing. Lanny came in first place with only one miss out of 20 and Tracy came in 2^nd with 3 misses out of 20. Haley Johnson    , of Lake Placid, was 3^rd.

Near the end of the week we did another race, but this one was just for fun. It was a bed race, held at the annual Acadian Festival in Madawaska, Maine. See pictures below. The ski club in Madawaska had a bed, but no women to run the race, so we volunteered. We raided a local coaches costume box and got ready for the race. The race was held on main street in Madawaska and there was a huge crowd. It was very entertaining because all of us women got really nervous and excited for the race, more so than for our time trial the other day. We weren’t going to lose the race! There were 5 person teams, 4 pushers and 1 person who laid on the bed in a very large “onezy” pajama. You had to push the bed down one side of the street to a designated area, then the person in the pajamas would take them off and then another member of the team would put them on and then you’d push the bed back up the street to where you started to the finish. With a strong sprint and a good changing of the pajamas, the women’s national team won first place in the bed race.

One more intensity session rounded out the week. It consisted of one hour and twenty minutes of threshold. Threshold is the pace at which your lactic acid starts to build at a rate in which your body can no longer flush it. It’s a pace just lower than that in which we race at. It was a long and hard workout, but a good way to end the week.

The weather here in Maine has been very unseasonable. We’ve had tons of rain, it has seemed more like fall than summer. We are looking forward to some sun and summer like weather.

We have one more hard week ahead of us, then we head out to Utah for some altitude training and some sunny weather!

2 Barnes Lanny                                                 1 0   1                 25:17.1                    +0:21.8 

3 Barnes Tracy                                                 1 1   2                 25:44.5                    +0:49.2 

4  Cook Annelies                                                1 2   3                26:17.8                    +1:22.5 

5  Spector Laura                                                    1 3   4               26:22.8                     +1:27.5 

6 Studebaker Sara                                             1 2    3               26:35.5                     +1:40.1

7 Chamberlain BethAnn                                       3 0    3               27:43.2                     +2:47.9 

8 Wygant Jen                                                   1 2    3               28:07.6                     +3:12.2 

9  Howe Katrina                                                3 2    5               29:18.6                     +4:23.3 

10  Schultz Melanie                                           2 2    4               29:21.3                     +4:26.0

Pursuit Race Results:m (Top Ten)

Place LAST NAME First Name     Shooting P P S S    Total               Total Time                    Time Back

1  BarnesTracy                                       0 0 0 0      0                    31:27.7                        +0:00.0 

2  Barnes Lanny                                     1 1 0 0      2                    33:45.8                        +2:18.1 

3  Cook Annelies                                    1 0 2 1      4                    34:45.8                         +3:18.1 

4  Dunklee Susan                                   3 3 1 1      8                    35:14.1                         +3:46.3    

5  Studebaker Sara                                0 1 3 2      6                    35:25.3                         +3:57.5

6  Spector Laura                                        1 3 2 2      8                    35:27.9                         +4:00.2 

7  Wygant Jen                                       1 0 3 0      4                    35:55.8                         +4:28.0 

8  Schultz Melanie                                 0 1 2 1      4                    37:15.5                          +5:47.8 

9  Chamberlain BethAnn                        2 4 0 2      8                    37:55.2                           +6:27.5 

10 Howe Katrina                                   1 2 3 2      8                    38:20.8                          +6:53.1 

 
Mass Start Race Results:(Top Ten)

Place    Name        Shooting  P P S S    Total                       Final Time                              Behind

1  Barnes Tracy                   0 0 1 0      1                       0:44:23.9                         00:00.0 

2  Spector Laura                      4 2 0 2      8                       0:47:56.9                         03:33.0

3  Cook Annelies                  1 2 2 2      7                        0:48:31.6                        04:07.7 

4  Studebaker Sara              1 0 4 2      7                        0:49:07.3                        04:43.4

5  Chamberlain BethAnn        1 3 1 2      7                        0:49:31.4                        05:07.5

6  Schultz Melanie               3 0 0 0      3                        0:49:34.6                        05:10.7 

7  Dunklee Susan                3 3 2 3      11                       0:49:53.0                        05:29.2 

8  Howe Katrina                  3 2 3 2      10                       0:51:26.4                        07:02.5

9  Wygant Jen                    3 3 4 2     12                        0:53:19.6                        08:55.7 

10 Teela Denise                  2 3 2 1      8                         0:56:00.0                        11:36.2 

 
 
 
 
 

Biathletes spend time with fans

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY BRIDGET BROWN Joel Hinshaw of Freeport (second from right) helps Ethan Humphries, 10, also of Freeport with his shooting as Mike Yeo of Yarmouth assists Carrie Adams, 13, also of Yarmouth, Friday at 10th Mountain Ski Club in Fort Kent. The four are part of the Southern Maine Biathlon Club which has a group of approximately 30 youngsters and 60 parents up for the weekend. Members of the public also took part in a citizens' race and rifle instruction.

By Julia Bayly
Special to the NEWS

FORT KENT, Maine — It’s not often youngsters get the chance to meet their sports idols, much less get some one-on-one training tips, but for a group of young southern Maine biathletes, everything fell into place this weekend.
The contingent of 30 8- to 15-year-old students and their parents from the Southern Maine Biathlon Club were in Fort Kent this weekend to watch the U.S. National Biathlon Championships and North American Biathlon Cup races and take part in a citizens’ race Saturday afternoon.
As part of that race, biathletes took time off from their training schedules to give their fans some pointers.
“It’s so awesome to see these kids,” Tracy Barnes-Colliander said. “These kids were in the same situation Lanny and I were in when we started — we had a club but” no shooting range.
Barnes-Colliander and her twin sister, Lanny Barnes, natives of Durango, Colo., trained and lived in Fort Kent in the years leading up to their 2006 Winter Olympic U.S. Biathlon Team appearance.
On Sunday Barnes-Colliander captured the gold medal in the women’s mass start race and took gold on Saturday for the women’s pursuit.
Her sister won the silver on Saturday, but a reoccurring foot injury kept her out of Sunday’s race.
The two, along with BethAnn Chamberlain of Caribou, seemed more than happy to spend time Sunday afternoon with the students talking about everything from the future of their sport to high school soccer.
“It’s so cool to see these young people here,” Chamberlain said. “They are the ones who will grow into the new generation of biathletes.”
The day before a for-fun club and citizens’ biathlon race after official competition at the 10th Mountain Center drew close to 70 participants and several of the athletes stuck around to work with the youngsters on marksmanship and ski skills.
Among them was Grace Boutot of Fort Kent who had some special fans in the crowd and on the practice range.
“This is really so exciting to see so many kids here from all over Maine,” Boutot said Saturday afternoon. “Some of them are really good shots.”
Boutot, just off a gold medal win for the youth women’s pursuit, was working with her nephews Austin, 6, and Ethan, 4, on the range.
“I never did this before,” Austin said after taking his turn with the designated air rifle. “Grace was helping me and with her here I was more brave.”
Austin and Ethan were in the stands along with their mother, Jessica Thibeault, Grace’s older sister, cheering her along the course earlier that day.
“I think she is just awesome,” Thibeault said. “She’s got such focus and dedication.”
Tiki Humphries, a coach and personal trainer from North Yarmouth, was with the southern Maine club and said the weekend was all she had hoped it would be.
“It was all about watching the competition, learning and taking it all in,” Humphries said. “We want the kids to know they can do this.”
The southern Maine club is affiliated with the Maine Winter Sports Center and Humphries said that relationship has allowed her skiers to experience biathlon up close.
“The kids really look up to these athletes,” Humphries said. “It just means the world to them that the athletes would take the time to come and talk to them.”
Such one-on-one interaction, Humphries said, makes the sport more attainable.
“Now our kids can go home and say they know these athletes,” she said. “They can watch the events and it’s very real to them now and they can believe they can do it, too.”
Gary Colliander    , coach with MWSC, agreed, saying events such as the citizens’ fun race are a great place to get people of all ages fired up about the sport.
“It was unbelievable seeing all the participants,” he said. “It’s just what we had hoped for. Biathlon has a great future here.”

           Unfortunately, the short-term forecast was for continued warm temperatures accompanied by rain and strong winds from late Thursday into Friday. This combination of rain and wind devastated the thinly covered tracks. The organizers have made some changes regarding the tracks and are worked hard to preserve the existing snow. Temperatures reached a high of +8 to +15C, but the volunteers in the stadium worked over night to truck in snow from a ski area 30 minutes away and lay out snow on the track. The day of the first competition 2/14, the organizers decided to try and pull off the race. All 110 women who were entered in the race jumped on the bus to the venue and were questioning whether they should’ve brought a swim suit instead of gloves, hats, and race suits.  Despite the odd conditions that consisted of trudging through several feet of slushy snow on the steepest hills we’ve had to race on yet and holding on for dear life as we rocketed down the sketchy downhill’s on our Nordic boards that are only 3 inches wide Tracy and I held on to some pretty good results and made it into the pursuit the next day. Lanny finished 46^th and Tracy was 56^th and within reach of the top competitors for the next days competition. With seconds or tenths of a second separating every competitor there was an emphesis on every second over the 7.5km sprint course and a chance to move up in the 4 stage 10km pursuit race.

        To make things interesting in Korea the weather did a flip flop and presented us with frigid temperatures and ice. The sprint race was +15 C and when we woke up the next day for the pursuit competition, the temperature had dropped to -15 C.  Although most of the course was a sheet of ice the competitions went on as planned and all the athletes dug in for a wild ride. On top of the ice and cold temperatures strong winds picked up and continued throughout the competition making it tough on the shooting range. We both had strong running in the pursuit race and were able to move up in the ranks. Lanny had a great race and move up to within reach on the leader and a medal by her last shooting. When she came in for her final shooting she recorded a missed shot, her only miss of the day, but that doused her chances for a medal and she finished in 39^th place not far from the leaders. Tracy struggled a little bit with the wind and recorded 5 misses for the day, but was still able the move up to 55^th position.  

       We had two day “off” between the sprint/pursuit and the individual race. During the two off days we spent our time training and making last minute adjustments. We skied the course with our coaches to go over a strategy and work on ski technique, did video analsys of both our shooting and our skiing. Dryfired our rifles (drills that we do without ammunition) and tested our skis with our wax technicians. Worked on getting as much recovery as we could such as massage, stretching, naps, replacing lost glycogen stores and flushing lactic acid build up in our muscles from the previous races. It wouldn’t be until after the individual that the coaches would allow us some time off to go and experience the Korean culture.

      The Individual race was a huge change from the sprint and pursuit and presented us with more normal conditions and better tracks. Although a thin track of snow still snaked through the bare Korean landscape, they had made snow and given the athletes a better race to look forward too. We were both looking forward to strong winds which we had seen since we arrived in Korea. We both had figured out the wind and with a shooting race like the individual we both felt we had a good chance. Unfortunately there was barely any wind, but the tracks were in great condition. Lanny finished 42^nd with one penalty (one more hit and she would’ve been top ten) and Tracy was 59^th with two penalties out of the 110 women that started.

       Our last race at World Champs was the women's relay. Lanny was the first leg of the relay, with  Haley Johnson     second, Carloyn Treacy third, and Tracy 4^th  and final leg. We finished in 10th place, the best US women's finish since 1997 and beat last years World Championship team Norway.

         After World Champs we head back to the US for a ten day training camp before the pre-Olympic World Cup in Vancouver.  

Jan. 12, 2009
Lanny Barnes 15th in Altenberg Sprint

Summary: Altenberg, Germany. Lanny Barnes logged another top 20 on the IBU Cup to lead the US Team while Russell Currier 45th was the best result for the men. Full Story, photos and link to results.

Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) again came through with another strong performance today in the Sprint race at the IBU Cup. Barnes who spent Christmas with relatives in Germany so she could compete in front of 51,000 screaming fans at the Biathlon Grand Prix in the German soccer stadium for the Schalke 04 Team has been riding a high with her confidence as of late. Cleaning her prone with 5 solid hits Barnes’ only mistake would come in her standing stage. National Team Coach Gary Colliander     commented, “Lanny had another strong race today. Former German National Team member Katja Beer was announcing the past two days and she was happy to announce Lanny was in 5th place after her prone stage today.” Barnes finished 1 minute 32 seconds behind winner Juliane Doll of Germany who also had 1 penalty and a winning time of 22:01. Natalia Sokolova of Russia was 2nd with 2 penalties, 26.2 seconds back and Latvia’s Madara Liduma was 3rd with 2 penalties, 26.7 seconds back. Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) made a strong jump today hitting 8 of 10 targets to claim 28th place. She was followed by Laura Spector     (Lenox, MA) in 30th with 3 penalties, Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) in 36th with 2 penalties, Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) in 38th with 3 penalties, and Carolyn Bramante (Duluth, MN) in 39th with 2 penalties.

“I’m happy with the overall efforts by everyone today,” commented Colliander. “Everyone left the start gate today looking for that extra gear and whether or not they found it they tried to find it and that’s a good sign. Shooting conditions today were perfect with no wind so that kept the results very tight. Good signs for us as we head to Nove Mesto, Czech Republic next week.”

Jan. 10, 2009
Lanny Barnes 18th in Individual IBU Cup

Summary: Altenberg, Germany – The weather forecast called for another beautiful day for the Sachsen region of Northeast Germany. What the weatherman forgot to mention was the morning snowfall and the afternoon fog.

Mother Nature brought out a few tricks of her own keeping the athletes, staff and organizing committee guessing all day.

In the Women’s Individual, Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) led the U.S. Women with an 18th place finish despite 3 penalties in gusting wind. With only 1 penalty after her second shooting bout, the announcers had Barnes in 3rd place. Carolyn Bramante (Duluth, MN) took some time off from Medical School to join the Team and finished in 32nd place with 5 penalties. Bramante cleaned both prone stages taking all of her misses in standing. Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) finished 40th with 8 penalties, followed by Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) in 42nd also with 8 penalties, Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) in 43 with 7 penalties, and Laura Spector     (Lenox, MA) with 10 penalties. “Shooting conditions were tough today. Lanny put a good race together and Susan had a good showing considering this was her first international competition. I think she was just a little nervous last night,” commented National Team Coach Gary Colliander     with a smile. Germany took the top two spots with local hometown girls Romy Beer and Anne Preussler. Winning in a time of 46:56 Beer won by 22 seconds over Preussler, each having 3 penalties. Lyudmyla Pysarenko of Ukraine was 3rd with 1 penalty, 29 seconds back.

Christmas With The Kaichers!!!!

I have spent most of my Christmas’ away from home and not all of them in your typical white winter settings. With relatives in Florida and California I had an occasional green Christmas growing up where we were wearing shorts instead of bundled up from head to toe in warm winter clothing. This year was to be my first Christmas in my home town of Durango, Colorado since 2001, but plans change as they always do and I was once again going to be spending Christmas overseas and away from home. Instead of making my way to my favorite spot in Ridnaun, Italy I called up my German relatives who live in Saarbrucken, Germany and set up what was to be my first German Christmas. With very few relatives left in the U.S. and most of my relatives living in Germany it seemed only fitting that I start getting to know my relatives better and also their strong German traditions.

After the end of the World Cups for 2008 on the 22^nd of December I jumped in the team bus with the seat all the way forward so I could reach the peddles and hit the autobahn for a 3 hour drive to the German/French boarder and the town of Saarbrucken. There I was greeted by the Kaicher family, my Aunt Elisabeth, Uncle Helmuth, and Cousins Franzi and Mikael. After an amazing meal of meats, cheeses, and vegetables that were cooked over a large hot plate right at the table, I went straight to work practicing my German which has always been a little rusty and even got even worse after sampling local beers from the brewery in town

. 

The next day consisted of visiting the family grave sight, which was home to generations of my family’s relatives, touring the Christmas market where we sampled gluwine and foods traditional to the area and to Germany, and touring a castle and several really old churches. Later that night I got a real good lesson in Rummy and learned that no matter how old you are you can still be great at cards. Helmuth’s mom who is 87 years old was the victor in the card game even while telling story after story of her travels around the world and what it was like growing up in Germany when she was little.

The 24^th of December I found out was when most Germans celebrate Christmas. I, on the other hand was used to celebrating Christmas on the 25^th with the opening of presents on the morning of the 25^th followed by a big feast that night. We’d usually spend the day working up an appetite by sledding or downhill skiing, but this Christmas was to be even better as my German relatives promised 3 days of festivities and celebration.  We spent most of the day wrapping presents, swapping stories, and decorating the Christmas tree. That evening we attended a Christmas mass and afterwards came home to a presents and a big meal.

I left very early in the morning on the 26^th to head to the World Team Challenge in the Schalke stadium, but still had an incredible time with my relatives. I learned so much about our family history and traditions as well as German history and traditions. I have always loved Germany and am definitely going to be spending more time with my relatives and getting to know them better. Maybe next year I will have the opportunity to spend Christmas with them, or they might be able to come over to the U.S. and see what it is like during a traditional American Christmas.

Barnes makes biathlon history

by Herald Staff Report

Article Last Updated; Friday, January 16, 2009

Durango native and U.S. Olympian Lanny Barnes helped make biathlon history recently in Germany.

Barnes, a member of the U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team, participated in one of biathlon's premier events, the Veltins Biathlon World Team Challenge, at the famed Schalke-Arena soccer stadium in western Germany.

Barnes and her ski partner, Jay Hakkinen of Alaska, became the first American biathlon team invited to the exclusive event.

Teams from Germany, Norway, France, Russia, Ukraine and the United States competed before an announced crowd of 51,000 spectators. There were 10 "pairs" teams in the three-stage contest.

In the first of three events, Barnes finished fourth among the women in the semifinals, and eventually placed sixth out of the 20 athletes in the shoot-out competition. She finished ahead of several male and female medalists from the 2006 Olympics.

In the second event, a mixed-relay sprint race, Barnes and Hakkinen finished seventh.

In the final event, a mass-start pursuit race, the American duo finished ninth.

For Barnes, a soccer fan, the competition offered a unique opportunity.

"It was just fantastic to start in a soccer stadium of that size," Barnes told the media representative for USA Biathlon.

"I always wanted to go to a German soccer game, but to be able to compete in a biathlon race in one of those big stadiums ... that is just like a dream," she said. "I was really excited to be able to race (in the Schalke-Arena)," said Hakkinen, of Kasilof, Alaska.

"As a biathlete you always hear how amazing it is to start in such a crowded arena. They were right. It was nothing ... but exciting," Hakkinen said.

Barnes said the scene was a particular challenge in the shooting phase of the competition.

"We had to get used to the atmosphere. It was so loud and such an amazing ambience. It took us a while to retrieve our usually good shooting," Barnes said.

Barnes and her twin sister, Tracy Barnes, and other members of the U.S. National Biathlon Team will continue on the World Cup circuit next week in Oberhof, Germany.

The Barnes twins are the daughters of the Thad and Deb Barnes     of Durango.

For more on the Biathlon World Team Challenge, including photos from the event, visit the Web sites www.biathlon.

teamusa.org or www.biathlon-aufschalke.de.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com

51.000 Spectators Watch U.S. Duo Fight in Soccer Stadium

Viktoria Franke - USA Biathlon December 28, 2008

Photo: Viktoria Franke

Hakkinen and Barnes in the soccer stadium